Bragging rights for Moycullen outfit in Super League derby

Maree 63

Moycullen 88

HISTORY was made in Oranmore on Saturday night when the first-ever Galway derby in the national Super League was staged, and it was Moycullen who claimed the honours with an emphatic win over top flight newcomers, Maree BC.

The home side made the step up to the Super League after dominating Division One for the past couple of seasons, but their task was made difficult when they were denied the services of their new US signing, Watkins Williams, as a result of visa problems, and they found the step up in class a bridge too far on their debut in the league.

Moycullen, on the other hand, have spent eight seasons in the top flight, and that experience stood to them on Saturday as they raced into an early 7-0 win as Maree struggled with the increase in pace from Division One.

Moycullen head coach, John Cunningham, was understandably delighted with his side’s opening effort. “We did to Maree what teams used to do to us when we first joined the league, wore them down and found better looks as the game went on,” he said.

The visitors were 24-19 ahead at the end of the first quarter, as Maree took some time to settle into the game. They found themselves 7-0 down early on, before Eoin Rockall had the honour of scoring their first Super League points when draining a three-pointer, and he went on to finish as the game’s stop scorer with 19 points.

“Eoin had a fantastic game for his first ever Super League outing, but we just about managed to keep him in check most of the game, and I thought we had a much better spread of scoring,” said Moycullen captain, James Loughnane, who also top-scored for his team with 18 points.

Indeed, it was Moycullen’s ability to get scores in a variety of ways that made the difference as four players contributed double digit point tallies.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.